Help me spend my little windfall...

[RinkRat]

Have a few $'s burning a hole in my pocket, and I was wondering what you folks would do given my situation...

I'm still REALLY new at this hobby, so I'm not sure what I will be concentrating on.

I currently have a HOME DEPOT lighting setup in my basement, and you see my EXCITING list of lenses in my sig.

do I:

1) Buy a 550EX

2) My local camera shop has a lighting kit for ~ $400

3) Buy a 28-135mm IS ?

I am going to buy 1 of the 3, so try not to sway me from any. :)

This is what I am going to buy after the new year:
Canon Super Wide Angle 17-40 f/4.0L USM Autofocus Lens
Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Autofocus Lens


Thanks for the help

[timmyquest]

I voted for the lights, but only bceause of that 50mm.

With the 50mm and your eventual 17-40 and 70-200 i doubt you'll be 100% happy with the images from the 28-135. A great lens no doubt, very flexible. But, you asked for my opinion :lol:

[MediaMagic]

The fact that you are not sure of what type of photography on which you want to concentrate leaves us with a tough time making a recommendation.

I'd go for the 550ex. That will give you portable capability, bounce flash, fill flash, the ability to take candids at family gatherings, whatever. It will very much improve your flash photography over the built in flash. You can add another 550ex or 420ex later for some ratio if you want.

I say the 550EX simply because I think it's the most versatile addition to your bag at this point.

[evilenglishman]

i would like more info on the "lighting kit" before i vote :)

[drisley]

550EX unless you exclusively shoot studio portraits.

If you plan on buying the 17-40L and 70-200L's, then I wouldnt waste the money on the 28-135IS.

[RinkRat]

i would like more info on the "lighting kit" before i vote :)

Found the lighting kit. MAN, my local store has this for $299.

Smith Victor (http://************/3zumr)

[Scottes]

You've got the 28-135 range pretty well covered, so you don't really need that.

You have still lighting already - not good for portraits, portability, or live action, so...

Go with the 550EX.

(And add it to the poll.)

[RinkRat]

You've got the 28-135 range pretty well covered, so you don't really need that.

You have still lighting already - not good for portraits, portability, or live action, so...

Go with the 550EX.

(And add it to the poll.)


I can't seem to edit the poll. :cry:

[MediaMagic]

Okay, the kit you listed, is a set of hotlights 500w, 500w, and 250w. This would be an okay kit for still/product photography, and some very narrow DOF portraits. The thing is, for common portrait photography, you need bright enough light to get your aperture down to f11 or f8. These floodlights will not allow an aperture this small without extremely long shutter speeds which will not freeze the normal human twitching motions during a portrait.

Also, hotlights are HOT; they can be a fire hazard under certain conditions.

I vote you add another option to the poll that says "I should figure out what type of photography I want to begin with before I spend my money!"

heh..

[Ballen Photo]

My vote goes for the 550EX flash also. This will add more versatillity to your kit right away, and I think you'd use it a lot more than the SV kit for now. This will give you more time to study lighting, and when you do start looking again, you'll have a much better idea of which lighting kit fits your needs.
-Bruce

[Chris1le]

Go with the flash. I have the three lenses you mentioned and have recently removed the 28-135IS from my bag.

[evilenglishman]

that lighting kit looks nasty. You could use work lamps and get almost the same results.

save the money and put it towards the IS version of the 70-200

[Andy_T]

Can't judge the lighting kit, but I'd also say ... go with the EX550!

Best regards,
Andy

[IanD]

I'm going to go against the popular opinion and vote for the 28-135 IS.
It is a great walkaround lens for the times that you want to go "light" and not have to carry around every lens that you own. Sure, it may not be the sharpest lens out there but unless you are a pro and taking images for resale or a paying client, the 28-135 is a great lens. It is the one lens I grab when I'm going out on a walk with the dog and want to take my camera with me.
Stopped down a little, it is a great lens.

[Cadwell]

This is what I am going to buy after the new year:
Canon Super Wide Angle 17-40 f/4.0L USM Autofocus Lens
Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Autofocus Lens

As soon as you do that you will be really disapointed by the poor performance of the EF 28-135mm IS. It doesn't suffer comparison at all well with those two L series. Don't waste your money on one.

I have one and regard it as a total waste of money. I have never taken a shot I was pleased with using that lens and nowadays it lives in a box on a shelf. It NEVER goes near my camera bag.

[evilenglishman]

While I don't think it would be wise for rinkrat to buy the 23-135 (based on what he will buy in the future) I cannot agree with what you say about it.

I have the 28-135 and I think it produces decent results.

[RinkRat]

It would seem the consensus would be to get the 550EX.

After doing some searching, I was wondering if the 420EX($179) might be a better option than the 550EX($299)?

I have a hacked DRebel, so FEC isn't an issue for me.

Thanks for the help.

[Scottes]

Soon after getting my 420EX I wished that I had a 500. After several months I sold the 420 and got the 550. I'm much happier. The control possibilities are much greater on the 550 - hell, they don't really exist on the 420. You have limited capability of controlling a 420EX, since it's all based on camera setting, which means FEC and that's it. A 550 gives much more control to you, and can also be used as a master flash when/if you get a 420 down the road. This can give you real lighting possibilities.

However, a 420 can easily produce great results, and can be just fine in most situations. But when the difficult situation occurs then the 420 is far, far less than optimal.